The Great Mississipi Flood of 2011

Dear AspireNow Readers:

In America, we are currently experiencing "the Great Mississipi flood of 2011" - flood waters are the highest they've been in a hundred years. The choice was made yesterday to open the floodgates, and therefore flood thousands of acres, including several towns and over 25,000 homes. In addition, millions of farmland acres will end up under water to save the City of New Orleans. As we all know, post-Katrina New Orleans does NOT need further flooding. The corps of engineers blew up a levee in Missouri to spare Tennessee and Kentucky, and other levies are being pressed like never before in history. This disaster is affecting thousands of homeowners in Missouri, Tennessee, Kansas, Mississipi, and Louisiana, especially.

Above photo: Mississipi floodgates opening to relieve pressure downstream, flooding thousands of homes and over a million acres. (provided by Reuters)

As such, I am getting involved and asking each of you to ACT NOW to help our friends in Mississipi and along the Mississipi river valley regions.

Here's how you can help:

1. Please post the "Thank you for giving your home to save NOLA" picture as your profile picture on your social networks. If you also post the following message: "Thank you, for those of you who just lost your farm, your home.... may God bless you and America! Please join me in POSTING this PIC as your profile, and DONATING NOW to help those in need. ♥" from AspireNow.com.

2. Please post the following message when you SHARE this PROFILE PICTURE:
How to help: 1) Post this pic as YOUR profile pic, w/text description. 2) TEXT to 90999 "REDCROSS" to donate $10. (if you can send more, details for your check are at http://rdcrss.org/lyzrML ). 3) SHARE the pic link w/friends, including this message. THANK YOU for giving and making a difference - 25,000+ homeowners & farmers NEED your support NOW! ♥ from http://www.AspireNow.com/

3. Share with your friends.

At minimum, please share this article post link with your friends, so that as many people can be exposed to help those in need at this time. Thank you!

With love,
Scott Andrews, Founder of AspireNow

Send text to 90999 with "REDCROSS" to make your donation and help now.
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Transform Criticism Into Positive Results

If you are a typical human being, you are probably bombarded with criticism in one way or another through various times in your life. Criticism comes from many sources: family, friends, strangers, enemies, and even our own self. In fact, often, we are our own worst critics.

I hope this saying resonates with you:

Criticism cannot upset you unless you agree with it.

Think about that. Is it possible that you are AGREEING with the voice(s)? If so, why?

How many times are we criticised without merit? Does that person really know us? Are they putting us down to build themselves up? Or, just being hard for the sake of it because their life sucks? What is their motive? Does it even MATTER?

Those who fail often have 80% or more negative self-talk. Whatever the reasons, we fare better if we SHIFT the negative voice to POSITIVE voice. Instead of saying to yourself "I'm not good enough" or "I'm too fat" or "I'm not handsome enough" or "I'm not pretty enough" or "my speaking voice isn't good enough" or "People won't care what I think" or all these crazy thoughts that come in our head or we might have heard at some point - replace these with the following:

People care about me.
I am superbly capable.
I am just right.
People will respond to me.
My voice can project and be heard.

You get the idea? If you catch yourself criticising - STOP. Write down the negative thought. And counter-balance it immediately with the oppositve, POSITIVE thought. Write that down and start repeating that NEW POSITIVE THOUGHT to yourself. Here's the new mantra that you can use to transform your life:

SHIFT WHAT YOU SAY TO SUPPORT YOURSELF, LOVE YOURSELF, and BELIEVE IN YOURSELF, AND YOUR LIFE IMPROVES.

Those who are most successful have 80% positive thoughts and self-talk. So, make the shift, right now, and watch your own life change for the better.
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The Blessing of the Polymath

Have you ever had someone say to you to "Pick one thing, and do it very well"?

Frankly, it is EXCELLENT advice. But, if you are anything like me, you probably find that doing just ONE thing – even well – is not enough to satisfy your thirst to explore life, entrepreneurialism, art, and whatever else your dream up doing next.

I was describing this to a friend, who told me "Scott, it sounds like you have the curse of the Renaissance Man." To which I replied, "Today, that would be called a POLYMATH. But I consider it a BLESSING."

I must clarify: it is only a blessing IF you actually SEE all the various sciences, art, and pleasures you dabble in through to some form of COMPLETION. It is good to multitask, but better to focus on one thing at a time.

Therefore, if you are like me, and just HAVE to explore all those options, perhaps it would behoove you to at least focus on that ONE activity – consider a time slice – so you do it well. It is critical to your success to excel at whatever vocation you pursue. If you must dabble, I would advise first mastering one skill or talent, then moving on to another. Otherwise you will have loose ends hanging everywhere. When I recently realized I had eight projects going but none to completion or fruition I immediately determined that I would work my tail off to either make each project successful or kill it. If you can, pick one thing and master it. Like the author who writes a book about one subject, that would be adviseable to many.

Now, in my own case, I did not do that. I dabbled in many things. If you go back to AspireNow's early days, I did not follow my gut advice and create a sales program first. I started by writing about life purpose, lifestyles, relationships, and business success – ALL at the same time. Did it work? It did not go nearly as big as I had imagined in the early years. This is because I did multiple things and chose topics in which I was not yet an expert. Although I now consider myself an expert on those topics, it took years of research and practical coaching to get there.

AspireNow WOULD have thrived much sooner had I followed David Ricklan's model at http://www.self-growth.com/, and set-up AspireNow as a portal to all the people who write about self-growth. I chose not to do that. Instead, I sought to make AspireNow more about my own perceptions and experiences from life. Well, today, David Ricklan has 300,000 Facebook friends following his Facebook page and as of this writing I have about 274 following mine. Lesson learned. We succeed by the choices we make.

It CAN be a blessing to be a polymath. The instance in which it is a blessing is when you SPEND THE TIME to get GREAT at what you do. If you are to be polymath, you must adapt a way to learn things very fast. Timothy Ferris, in his book The 4-Hour Workweek, claims to have mastered this super-learning process himself, as part of teaching himself multiple foreign language systems. I will add that it probably does not hurt that Tim is also very smart. Seriously, though, I need to talk with him about his system of learning, because I believe it would help any polymath be more successful. So, go ahead and do multiple things. Learn and develop systems to do them better, so you may accomplish proficiency faster. If you do this, you can be a polymath AND be successful in many of your pursuits.

The other challenge is that if instead of picking one thing and doing it well you instead choose multiple things to focus upon as your vocation, it may simply take you LONGER to get GREAT at all of them. I found this to be true for me. Jack Canfield, the co-author behind Chicken Soup for the Soul, the most popular book series of all time, shared on stage that he "struggled for years" before finding the magic combination of people and publicity and product to get the product out and successful. This is not unusual for the polymath who is an aspiring author or entrepreneur. Yet, Chicken Soup is not about one topic, but about many stories that warm the heart and soul of the reader. So, perhaps, Chicken Soup's success is a POLYMATH's dream come true and example that perseverance is key!

If you are going to play music, play it in a way that enables you to exceed expectation by mastering concepts. I mastered playing by ear, and playing the blues, but I still make mistakes on the saxophone. I may not understand the theory as well as I could, or I might have heard a series of notes incorrectly while quickly learning a song. The average musician and listener may miss the mistakes, but trust me when I tell you the professional will not miss anything out of sorts. Recently, at a Burning James band rehearsal with Terry Lawless, keyboardist for U2, Terry asked us "Does the sax part go like Scott is playing it, or like the way the rest of you guys play it?" I gave Terry credit for his classy way of saying "Scott, you are playing the wrong notes, man!" Make no mistake about it, the professional will ALWAYS know where your mistakes are at – the only question remaining is whether he will call you out on the mistakes he hears.

It was the same for me with learning Salsa dancing; when a masterful Afro-Cuban dancer came to guest teach a class at my local dance club. She immediately saw my steps and said "No, try this.” Then, she showed me the proper movement. I later asked her if she was good at swing dancing, too. She said, "No, I pretty much just do Salsa dancing. I enjoy it the most, and can compete at a high level with Salsa." In her case, perhaps she picked one thing and did it well. Yet, if you notice, on Dancing with the Stars, they make each dancer do many forms of dancing, so it may be a sign of a developed dancer to learn steps and form to more than one form of dancing. Me? I am just trying to get past the beginner level at swing OR salsa! It is hard when you play music, as often when they are dancing you need to play music. Choices, right?

As an entrepreneur, if you are creative, you will dream up many new ideas that you COULD develop into a company or new product. The question is to pick a number that you can MANAGE CAPABLY. In fact, at GE, the CEO once made a statement "If we cannot be #1 or #2 in each product category we compete, then we will kill that product." The leader made a point "we must excel at what we do." So, make your choices wisely. Pick the products, businesses, hobbies, and interests you love and can achieve success in the most.

Then, bust your butt to be the very best at those interests. Often, the person who rises to the top is not the one with the most talent, but the one with the most heart and drive to stay at it when everyone else went home. In the end, perhaps this is the secret to the BLESSING of the Polymath. Maybe to be the best at multiple things will require you to work longer, avoid time-wasting activities, and maximize each activity to the fullest through laser-like focus.

What do you say about being a polymath? What makes you successful? Please share in the comments link!
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Copyright © 1999-2011 AspireNow. All rights reserved.

10 Questions To Change Your Life

Scott Andrews, Founder of AspireNow, announces a new webinar series from AspireNow, entitled "10 Questions to Change Your Life"

10 Questions to Change Your Life Webinar/Teleseminar Description:
Questions affect the way we process, think, learn, act, listen, speak, and relate to others. Questions we ask ourselves and each other drive every action we make. Questions can push us to learn more, be more, do more, have more, and love our life far more... to explore, adventure, and learn.

The future begins right now – it starts with the questions we ask ourselves.

In this powerful 1 hour free webinar you will learn the 10 Questions to Change Your Life, along with exciting ways to implement these questions to full impact:

* Receive secrets from Scott's "Life Purpose" program and decade of coaching!
* Learn ways people sabotage success...find out what not to do!
* Gain insights from masters...grow wisdom to learn how to really know your self and live your dreams.
* Discover the differences between surviving and THRIVING... what do the happiest people do different?
* Why NOW?...Discover how you can begin right now from wherever you are to improve your life.
* Maximize success... Find out how the richest people make more in far less time than you might think!
* And more!
Make sure to SIGN UP NOW to RESERVE YOUR SEAT ON THE WEBINAR and MARK YOUR CALENDAR:

Date: February 14, 2011
Time: 11:00 a.m. - Noon PST.
Cost: No Cost - Limited Time Only!*

NOTE: SPACE LIMITED ON THIS WEBINAR TO 25 SEATS, FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED:
SIGN-UP HERE FOR THE WEBINAR INVITATION CODE:

http://www.aspirenow.com/10_questions_webinar_signup_page.htm

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Copyright © 1999-2011 AspireNow. All rights reserved. Want more? Subscribe to the A-Blog. Like it? Share on del.icio.us or Stumble Upon!

Common Blocks To Success

Often in my business coaching I inevitably come across problems in the client's personal life that block their business success. Today, while sharing a few of these blocks, a friend suggested I post a few to help you overcome your own blocks to success through my advice at AspireNow. So, here they are:

Common blocks to success:

1. Time Wasters. People waste time with many activities. The biggest time wasters include the following:

• Gabby friends. Some friends will literally expect you to talk to them for an hour every day. Why do that? It is a huge time suck. If you have four such friends, you'll literally spend FOUR hours a DAY just talking about stuff with these friends. It's good to share with friends, but limit the time you spend to time face to face, if at all possible, as much as possible - especially when you're launching something new or exciting that requires extended effort.
• Television. Watching television is one of the biggest time wasters. You don't learn very much from watching television. You can learn much more surfing the net or visiting a bookstore. If you start timing your television watching, you might be alarmed. The average number of hours college students in America watch television is between two to three hours a day. Elementary kids often spend up to five or six hours a DAY watching television! How do you find time for homework when the television is on? Just asking! Try turning off the television. I went so far as to cancel television ENTIRELY. I do miss it when I want to watch Dancing With the Stars and select sports games. Now I have a reason to go to a sports bar. Usually, I'll connect with a friend or two, watch the last half of the game, but I avoid watching an entire day of football on Sunday. I just don't have time for that much television watching anymore!
• Commutes. This is mostly true in a big city, but also true for those who live outside their city but work in town further away from home. If you have a commute longer than twenty minutes each way, you're wasting up to five to ten hours a week just driving around! Try to select jobs near where you live, or live closer to where you work. Save yourself the time wasted on a commute and you'll be more productive.
• Internet. The Internet is powerful. You can keep in touch with thousands of people all around the Globe in instant time through IM, Facebook, Twitter, and other tools. I strongly encourage people to use social networks; however, I also encourage you to limit the time spend on each of these each day. Schedule Internet time, so that it doesn't dominate your life. In America, college students are now spending over twelve hours a week on the Internet. That's more than television! Consider how much time you spend online. Some of the people I know are online as much as twelve hours a day. Back down your Internet time to between one to two hours a day and watch your productivity skyrocket.

2. Attitude. The state of attitude can determine many things influencing success, including:

• State of mind. If you are in a positive frame of mind, you can do more.
• Negative talk v. Postive self-talk. Studies I've read indicate that those who are most successful use positive self-talk over 80% of the time, while those who do not succeed use negative talk about the same ratio. If you can switch your self-talk to talk that supports your activities, you'll succeed more often.
• Proactive v. Reactive. Have a perspective of doing it versus perspective of allowing things to be done to you. Control your life to the extent you can.

3. Clutter. The state of being of clutter can block your success, though:

• Tools. If it is harder to find your tools, you are less effective. Just as good website design is a sign of an easy to navigate site, your own office, house, garage, computer, and phone ought to be organized, tidy, and ready for work. (As I write this note, I make note to schedule organizing my own garage and computer!)
• Work space. If you cannot find what you need, what are you doing about it?
• Mental clutter. Worrying about things you cannot control is a block I see. Stop worrying about those things. Instead, focus on what you CAN do, right now, to make a difference.

4. Productivity Plan. Many people have simple task lists each day. But you can remove these blocks to productivity through a better plan:

• Power of Three. Focus on no more than three projects at any given time.
• Top 5. Make a list of the top five things you must to do to move that project forward.
• Who:
• Make a list of who you must talk to today who can help you move a project forward.
• Make a lit of who you need to follow-up with who can help move projects forward.
• Top 10: Then have your next "top ten" tasks after these lists. If you follow this plan, you will get more done on your core projects and not feel "stagnated" or "stuck" nearly as often.

I'm a big believer in clearing out messy stuff, getting things organized, then working hard on what you must do now to succeed. I am currently putting in a plan for #5 in my own life. My goal? Better health, optimum weight. We can succeed if we make the effort. Try following each of these steps and see if some of your own common blocks aren't removed so you succeed more often.

Do you have an idea of your own on how to remove a block to success and improve productivity? Share it here on our comments for the benefit of our readers. Thanks!
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Copyright © 1999-2010 AspireNow. All rights reserved. Want more? Subscribe to the A-Blog. Like it? Share on del.icio.us or Stumble Upon!

Taking Control Of Your Life

You may at times struggle with life. Perhaps things feel out of sorts, or out of control. I developed a 7-step process to help get back on track during such times and take control of your life. I will share it with you:

Take Control of Your Life in Seven Steps

1. Define what bothers you right now. What is wrong? What needs fixing?
2. Define what you MOST WANT in that area of your life.
3. Understand your role in both what bothers you and in what you want.
4. Give your problems to GOD. The act of releasing control is vital in the process to manifest dreams.
5. Determine to make a DRAMATIC SHIFT towards ONLY what you want.
6. Pray and meditate on what you WANT. Create a DREAM COLLAGE and visualize it REAL.
7. Focus on the top three ways to create inertia towards what you want.

Better understanding of the Seven Steps to Take Control of Your Life:

Would you like more clarification? I will define each further for you so you may take control of your life right now.

1. Define what bothers you now.

What is really upsetting you? What keeps you up at night? If there is something you feel worry, anxiety, or fear about, what is it?

Answer: ________________________________________________

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Analysis:

What area(s) of your life are bothering you? Perhaps a relationship is frustrating you. Career choices could be confusing. Health issues might hinder your happiness. A job is challenging you. Dreams are taking longer to manifest? Learning something new is frustrating… Or perhaps you feel something is MISSING? So, it could be something you HAVE NOW that is upsetting you and making you feel like life is out of control, OR it could be something you DO NOT HAVE NOW that makes you feel like life is out of control.

If you can look at the things that are bothering you, you can get a grip on why your life feels out of control. What is your initial response to this question?  How many of the things you wrote down to question number one could you fix, right now? If you cannot fix it now, how can we look at it or frame it to make living with it better?  

2. Define what you MOST WANT in that area of your life.

What is it you desire most (in similar areas like you answered in Question 1)?

Answer: ________________________________________________

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Analysis:

What area(s) of your life do you dream about making BETTER? Again, as in Question 1, the dream is either about IMPROVING something we have now, or FILLING A VOID.

If you understand what you want to make better, you may not realize but asking for what you want, clearly, is VITAL to your success. How closely can you define your dream?

If you want a new house, can you draw the floor plan? Can you take a picture of the VIEW? Or, better yet, can you take a picture of YOU, STANDING in THAT VIEW, in that HOME? If so, you increase the likelihood of manifesting that dream house. I have a couple of exercises for this, but first, simple define what you most want in this area of life.

What I want most: ________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

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3. Understand your role in both what bothers you and in what you want.

In both what bothers you and in what you want, YOU are playing a role in the success or failure of that dream life you wish to create. Therefore, to understand why you are getting what you want, or why you are not, you must look at TIME ACTIVITY. How are you actually spending time? Are you asking questions in the right order? Do you feel alignment in how you wish to succeed? Is there space in your life for what you most want? You must have SPACE to manifest what you most want.

Regarding the dream, I must ask you if there is anything BLOCKING you from manifesting what you most want? How are you spending your TIME? If you MUST keep a job to support a family, then the question for what you are doing outside of that job might hold the answer for manifesting the dream. Are you spending time watching television? Are you talking with friends who actually put down your dream? Are you engaging in activities that support the goal or make it a problem? For example, if you want to have optimum health, are you spending time outside working hours working out, exercising, eating healthy, or are you eating unhealthy food, drinking alcohol and carbonated drinks, and sitting around? You cannot complain about the things you do that do not support your dream. Rather, I suggest you align yourself in activities that support your dreams and goals. If you want to lose weight, join gym and go there either right before you work or immediately after you get off work. Do whatever fits best in your schedule. If you need to eat more healthy, buy a book with recipes to help you eat more healthy, learn one new recipe a day, and start to eat in that manner. Another thing you can try is to take up a hobby that supports that healthier you: such as salsa dancing. I found that when I salsa dance, I drink less alcohol, drink more water, and lost weight from all the movement. As a bonus, dancing salsa is fun! So, identify what blocks you, then find the ways to open up that time in your schedule.

4. Give your problems to God.

Zen wisdom would hold that if you want to love something, let it go. It is the story that if it comes back, that the love is natural and reciprocated. In the same token, give your problem and dreams up to God. If there is an infinite power in the Universe, why not TAP INTO THAT POWER to help us with our struggles?

I give these struggles to God: ________________________________

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I ask God to help me manifest these dreams: ___________________

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You might wonder, “Why is it healthy to release control of the things in our life that bother us most or that we want most?” The answer is because we do not actually control the total aspect of everything that can occur in our life. By releasing the expected outcome, we actually allow for something GREATER to occur in our life. In addition, it gives peace of mind to release the need to control. Just as the person with OCD over a clean house may see dust where no dust exists, we can use so much control to force ourselves into frustration. So, give up control or the demand for perfection and allow God’s plan to work for you.

5. Make a dramatic shift to FOCUS ONLY on WHAT YOU WANT.

Since you released your struggles to God, and you identified ways to fix what you can fix, then take those actions. Now after looking at SPACE and TIME for what you want, you have an opportunity: you get to think, speak, and act in ways that BRING what you WANT MOST into your life!

That is the exciting part of this process – determine to shift your thoughts, speech, and actions ONLY to what you want to manifest the most. That means ridding all negative self-doubt, negative talk, and actions that sabotage and replacing those with positive belief, faith-based talk, and steps towards success. Just writing the latter part of that sentence FELT better than writing the former. So, consider the EMOTION you wish to charge with manifesting your dreams. FEEL that way NOW.

The actual journey is the fun. The outcome is a result of right thought, speech, and action during the journey that allowed us to manifest or attract to us the things we want most. So start each day with the thoughts that support your dream, with the speech that makes it possible, and the actions that bring it to you. This shift is the biggest change in bringing your state from one of failure, lack, and sadness to one of success, abundance, and happiness. Are not these three things: success, abundance, and happiness three things that will bring us more LOVE and FULFILLMENT? Then focus on what you want and make it so!

6. Pray and meditate on what you WANT. Create a DREAM COLLAGE and visualize it REAL.

Specific activities tend to support the thought, action, and speech. These are the way we use our mind when it is silent, and how we focus intention when we communicate with our higher power. So, each day, when you meditate, meditate on allowing space for your dream to manifest. Meditate on what it looks like… how it feels… how you feel when it happens. When you pray, pray only to align your goals with God’s goals for your life. Put yourself in the dream. If you want to manifest a dream house, can you DRAW the FLOOR PLAN? Do you have a PHOTO of the VIEW? Alternatively, can you take a picture with YOU standing IN THE DREAM HOUSE? Put yourself in the dream to take control of your life. For my birthday, I went to my dream house. What was especially fun about taking pictures in the dream house is the seller staged this house with a dream car, too! My dream car was in the dream house! Therefore, I took a photo in the car, and in the house, to put myself in the dream. Whatever you can do to create a picture of the dream, with you in it, I suggest you do. If you create a dream collage, you can put your PHOTO over the pictures of what you want. This is easiest to do with a computer. You can edit images to put YOUR face in the face of the people you wish to emulate in your dreams. If it is a dream job… what are you doing? Show pictures of YOU doing that. If it is a dream body, put YOUR picture on the dream body. If it a dream car, put YOUR picture in the dream car – or go get a photo taken sitting in your dream car! Dreaming is fun, so have fun with it.

7. Focus on the top three ways to create inertia towards what you want.

It is great to put ourselves in the dream; however, we might need to take actions to make these dreams come true. I am a fan of praying as if God will answer all prayer and then acting as if God might not… in other words; I ask, “What effort must be done to make the dream become reality?” I urge you to take those actions.

Name three steps or actions you can take this week to bring forth your desired results:

1. ____________________________________________________

2. ____________________________________________________

3. ____________________________________________________

Now, DO IT! Be a MASTER in your life. When you focus on how YOU can change, and make the shift to change yourself, back it with your higher power, and then TAKE ACTION, you are a POWERFUL person in control of your life!

I recently felt blocked. As I started putting forth what I describe above, and especially as I made effort towards these three actions, I realized that the blocked feeling went away. I know you will experience success in a similar way. Follow the seven steps I outlined above, and any time life feels out of control will immediately re-center much the same way a skipper rights a ship by focusing back in the direction he needs to go. Point your ship in the right direction, lose the weight that sinks your effort to sail, release the ropes that bind you, and allow space for wind to fill the sheets and push you forward toward the port of your next destination. Last, note the dreams you MANIFEST – CELEBRATE successes along the way! Be a master of the seven steps and take control of your life.

 

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Copyright © 1999-2010 AspireNow. All rights reserved. Subscribe to the A-Blog.

Worship and Gratitude: The Alpha and Omega of Happiness

If you examine how the most successful people in the world become successful and how those the most happy people find their happiness, you may notice these people are those who maintain a rich and deep connection to their creator and express gratitude each and every day.

Now, I know some of you who read AspireNow are probably Atheist. And, you know, what? That's okay with me. You may say you don't believe and that is your choice. And, as you know, I rarely get on a soapbox and preach. Today is no exception. But I will ask you: "Do you want to be happy?" Because if you want happiness, everything I've studied leads me to these two qualities: worship and gratitude.

I am not on a soapbox. I will simply state what I, myself, believe to be true. I believe that Worship and Gratitude are the Alpha and Omega of HAPPINESS.

My parents have a plaque on their wall that always struck me as especially wise. It reads:

"A family that prays together, stays together."

The state of prayer is one of communication with our God. To me, our God is one. The "Christ-consciousness" is only shone to us through the angel those with near death experiences report - the white light. But works of nature and the Universe abound all around us. I love both the simple and elegantly complex nature of life. I am in awe of things like: a sunrise... the birth of a baby... a sunset... the stars... our sun... and the power of prayer.

In my book I am publishing about "Using Solomon's Wisdom to Build a Kingdom," I maintain 10 basic tenets that Solomon created and followed to build a kingdom. He started by asking God for WISDOM. He aligned himself with his maker and started from that place. He maintained worship as a vital part of his rulership and was considered the wisest man who ever lived. Could this be connected? I believe it is. Solomon's kingdom and influence ended up the largest his people ever experienced.

A path to abundance is one that begins in service, and one that begins by submitting our will to God's will. Because God has greater plans for us than we can imagine! My own path and my will focused my efforts on being a salesperson for a large corporation, then a manager for corporations. This influenced a few dozen people directly, and perhaps more indirectly. God's will has me writing books and speaking in ways that influence the lives of MILLIONS. Can you see what I mean? It isn't all about money, but when you influence millions you usually have more value in the world than if you influence dozens, would you not agree?

Worship of GOD begins by submitting to God. Worship and Wisdom, therefore, are uniquely linked as the paradoxical moment when we begin to manifest a larger vision for life.

In addition, you will notice people who are amazingly successful are very GRATEFUL. They express their gratitude to people they love, and those they just meet.

I am so GRATEFUL for YOU, right now!

See, because it is one thing to become "empowered" with the wisdom and vision that we may manifest God inside us. It is another thing to realize that FEAR and RESENTMENT block LOVE and hold us back, and even more to realize that FORGIVENESS and LOVE propel and lift our plane of life energy into the clouds. But it is another thing altogether to recognize that GRATITUDE is the key to BLAST OFF into the stratosphere of realizing our dreams! And this, my friend, is true.

Are you ready to blast off? Start showing gratitude everywhere you go! Laugh, smile, and let people know you love them and are grateful for their presence in your life.

Just as worship is the alpha; or, the beginning, gratitude is the omega; where it ends: the missing link to discover happiness.

Think about it.... if you can live a life filled with wisdom, filled with love, where fear has no place, and let go of all resentment through forgiveness and acceptance, and then are grateful for the blessings that come your way... is that not a life of abundance?

This is what AspireNow is all about. I encourage you to live that life of abundance. I can show you what I learn on my own journey. It is up to you if you wish to pick up the seeds of life sprinkled throughout these pages and say, "Yes, I want to plant these seeds in my garden." If you do, hopefully my articles will help, along with wisdom you receive from other friends, and other people and events will come your way to guide you and help water that garden, so these seeds turn into strong and powerful plants, trees, and eventually new life that you share with those around you.

I encourage it, I pray for it, I am grateful for the opportunity to help make it so for you.

May you integrate worship and gratitude as a regular part of your life activity and see if the beginning and end of happiness are not present for each and every day.

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